


Well, That Just Takes The Cake

by soldiermom1973



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Gen, Gift Fic, ME Secret Santa 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 14:47:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17327000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiermom1973/pseuds/soldiermom1973
Summary: Shepard helps her girlfriend do something special for a friend.





	Well, That Just Takes The Cake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NalaNox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NalaNox/gifts).



> I offered to pinch hit for the ME Secret Santa. I wrote this rather quickly because I didn't want the recipient - @nalanox - to have to wait any longer. I hope I didn't stray too far from what you wanted. Merry belated Christmas!

“Shepard, I'm glad you're here! I need your help!”

Shepard rounded the corner to the mess and stopped short at the scene in front of her: Tali, wearing a “Fleet and Flotilla” apron, covered from helmet to boot in flour with wet spots dotted around the apron. The mess itself was a disaster, with flour covering nearly every surface, egg shells all over the counter, and dirty dishes and open food boxes and bags scattered over what little free counter space there was.

The commander's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a laugh, since what she was seeing looked so much like something out of a sitcom or a commercial for a heavy-duty cleaner.

“Good lord, Tali, what are you doing?” she sputtered, losing the battle with keeping her mirth contained.

“I'm trying to bake a cake.” Shepard could hear Tali's voice waver a bit, like she was trying not to cry. It was a sound that sobered her right away. “Garrus's birthday is coming up and when we had parties for you and the other humans, he always loved the part where you blow out the candles. I wanted to do something special for him but I can barely cook and I've never baked a cake and I watched some vids and it seemed so easy...”

Shepard rushed to the young woman's side as she covered her face with her hands and broke down sobbing. “And all I've done is make a terrible mess that will take forever...”

“Tali, shhhh, it's ok,” Shepard soothed, pulling her girlfriend against her. “I'll help you clean up, ok? EDI, please make sure people stay away from here unless it's some kind of emergency.”

“Understood, Commander,” came the AI's reply. “Is there anything I can do to assist?”

“No, I think the two of us can take care of it,” Shepard answered, kissing the top of Tali's helmet and murmuring soothing words.

“Very well. Should you change your mind, I have instant access to 352,978 cake recipes that are dextro-friendly.”

“Noted, EDI. Thanks.”

It was several minutes before Tali was able to compose herself and pull away from Shepard's hug. “I'm sorry,” she murmured, her head hung as she sniffled. “I just wanted to do something special for him and I thought I would be easier than this. It's hard when there's only two dextro people on board, you know.”

“Well, let's get this cleaned up, then we'll look at the recipe, ok?” Shepard glanced around the disaster area that used to be the ship's mess and pressed her lips together.

“What? What's so funny Shepard?” Tali asked when she couldn't contain her laughter any longer.

“I don't think this is what people have in mind when they refer to the ship's mess,” she giggled.

Tali looked around and Shepard watched, still laughing as a glowing smile slowly spread across the young woman's face. “I think you're right, Shepard. Gardner would probably be a little upset with me right now if he were here.” she laughed.

“Maybe just a little.” The Commander was happy to see her lover wasn't as distraught as she had been moments ago. “So, let's get to it.”

Things in the dining area weren't quite as bad as they looked and the pair made short work of Tali's baking catastrophe. Fortunately, there were still enough dextro ingredients left for another go at Garrus's cake. Shepard patiently talked Tali through reading the recipe, showing her the different measuring cups and spoons and demonstrated how to properly fold ingredients together when they made the frosting. Soon, all of deck three was filled with the nose-pleasing scent of homemade, baked goodness and Tali was beyond ecstatic.

Once the cake was cooled and properly frosted, Shepard and Tali leaned back on the counter to admire their handiwork. An evil grin slowly crept across Shepard's face. “Tali, you said Garrus loves it when we blow out the candles, right?”

“Yes,” Tali looked at Shepard, confused. “Why?”

“Well, I've got an idea. There's this shop in Zakera ward...” Shepard's voice dropped to a whisper and she spelled out her idea.

“Shepard, you're an evil genius,” Tali laughed. “Remind me to never get on your bad side. And we do owe him for that joke he pulled when he handcuffed us together.”

“Well, that one wasn't so bad.” Shepard's voice dropped and took on a husky tone. “I saved those cuffs, remember.”

“And there is extra frosting,” Tali drew closer to Shepard and smoothed her hands down her chest. “But we'll have time for that later. Right now, we have some shopping to do.”

“Spoil sport,” Shepard grinned, swatting Tali's rear as she brushed past.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Later that night, the crew gathered around the table where Garrus was sitting front and center. A party hat on his head and the equivalent of a turian grin on his face, he clapped when Tali brought out the cake she and Shepard made earlier.

“Now, I know human tradition is to put the same number of candles on that you are old, but we couldn't get that many,” Tali explained, “so there are only ten.”

“Don't forget about the fire hazard all those candles would have presented,” Shepard called from her spot in the corner.

“Very funny, Shepard,” Garrus grumbled.

Tali carefully lit the candles as the crew sang Happy Birthday to the galaxy's best calibrator. When they finished, Garrus closed his eyes, leaned forward and blew the candles out. Everyone cheered when Garrus noticed that a few of the candles hadn't gone out. He exhaled again and watched in disbelief when the same four candles reignited.

“What...? I know they were all out.” He growled a little and blew harder as people started ribbing him about not being able to extinguish all of the candles.

“Can you imagine how bad this would be if there were actually thirty-something candles on that thing?” Shepard laughed, making her way to the front of the crowd. “You having a problem there, Vakarian?”

“No, I'm not,” the turian growled, his irritation rising. The fact that the crew started ribbing him wasn't helping, either, as he huffed and puffed, completely unable to put out the last candles on his birthday cake.

“I think we got him,” Shepard leaned over and loudly whispered to Tali.

“I think so, too,” she laughed in response.

“Got me?” Garrus said, looking up at the pair.

“Those candles won't go out,” Tali grinned, carefully pulling them from the cake and placing them in the sink. “Not like that, anyway.” She turned the spigot on and easily doused the flames.

“Well, that wasn't very nice,” Garrus grumbled as Tali came back with a knife.

“Neither was handcuffing us together,” Shepard cocked an eyebrow at him and smirked.

Garrus's mandibles twitched when he remembered the prank he pulled on the pair in order to get them to talk about their feelings for each other. “Oh,' came the small response.

“It's ok,” Shepard said, sliding her arm around Tali's waist as she sliced into the cake. “I saved them. We might even use them later tonight.”

“Shepard!” Tali smacked the commander's arm as she handed Garrus the first piece of cake. “I don't think the crew needed to know that!”

“Well, then I won't tell them about the extra icing we made, either.” Shepard waggled her eyebrows and grinned as the people around them groaned. “Enjoy that cake, Garrus.”

“I would if you'd stop talking,” he mumbled around a mouthful of cake.

Shepard laughed and pulled Tali against her, kissing the top of her helmet. “Thanks, Shepard,” the quarian whispered.

“Anytime,” Shepard smiled.


End file.
